Summer highlights-- August

As I said, it was a crazy summer! The first weekend in August, the Linams came to see our new house, so we took a break from unpacking and toured downtown Little Rock, in the rain no less!!

Riding on the trolley in downtown Little Rock.

Two weeks after we moved, the kids and I packed up and headed to the beach with my mom, sister-in-law, 2 cousins, and the kids' godparents. Although I was worried it would be too much, it was just what we all needed. Grace Caroline and Drew (and I) had spent a little too much time together. Since school hadn't started yet, we really hadn't had a chance to meet anyone and make any friends. It was Sam's first trip to the beach! He loved the sand (no big surprise there, given how much he loves the sandbox) and the pool, but wasn't too sure about the ocean. We didn't get in too much, because there were a lot of jellyfish. Grace Caroline and Mary Emma both got stung. It was a fun trip, and the kids did amazingly well in the 9 hour car ride!!

Sam loving the sand. He was completely covered when we finished. He even tasted it!Sam loving the pool. This boat was the greatest. Give him a toy, and he was set!
Bathing beauties!My sweet babies! I love how much they love each other!

And of course, mid-August brought the start of school. Grace Caroline is in Kindergarten, and Drew is in Pre-K 3, both at Pulaski Academy. Grace Caroline was especially nervous about making friends, and had a little trouble the first day. But the second day of school she came home all excited that she had made a new best friend ("I met her in the bathroom, Mom!"). Of course, now she has a whole ton of friends and loves school. Drew, in his usual fashion, has sailed right into school, quickly making friends and fitting right in. And Sam has been loving the extra time with Mama. Until we moved, he really didn't want much to do with me. But now he'll occasionally even reach for me when Matt is holding him!

Getting ready to leave for school. Grace Caroline wasn't excited about having to wear uniforms, but quickly learned to love it!

Both kids at school on the first day, getting ready to go in!

Summer highlights -- July

It has been the craziest summer ever!! At the beginning of July we spent some time at the lake, as we do every year, to celebrate the 4th. On that trip, we met and hired Lincoln, our nanny, and checked on the paint in our house.

All 5 cousins "hanging out" in the hammock at the lake.

The two youngest, Sam and Hamilton, in their baby pool. Sam was unable to enjoy the lake on this first trip because he had just been circumcised the week before.

The big highlight of July is that we moved. From Cincinnati to Little Rock. 4 nights in a hotel and 6 nights at Momse and Doc's for the kids between houses. Matt and I were able to have the kids' rooms and playroom, the guestroom, living room, den, and our room nearly completely unpacked before the kids arrived. My mom was a huge help and completed all the dishes (kitchen and dining room) after they got here. All three kids made the transition beautifully. Sam had a little difficulty sleeping the first 2 nights. And, of course, he got all 4 molars at once right during the move, so that didn't help the sleeping. Once we figured that out and started giving him ibuprofen, he did much better!!


Grace Caroline and Drew playing in the sprinkler in our new back yard.

We are all loving our new house, and are really feeling settled 2 months later. The space is good for all of us!! Oh, and I forgot to mention that Sam learned to crawl the day we moved out of our house in Cincinnati! He also learned to climb: stairs, onto a bed, or whatever else he can find!

Happy Birthday Samuel!!

Samuel turned 1 year old on June 2!!
We are so thankful that he is home with us and that we were able to celebrate his first birthday. The past 4 months (hard to believe it's already/only been 4 months) have totally flown by, and we have learned so much about Sam, ourselves, and our other two children. It is totally amazing to watch Grace Caroline carry Sam around the house and to watch Drew try to teach him to crawl or stand up, but even more amazing when one of the big kids looks at me and says "Mama, I love Sammy." Totally brings tears to my eyes.


Here is a list of some of the things we love about Samuel:

1. I love his toothy grin. He got a tooth a week the first 3 weeks we were home, which made for some difficule adjusting. He is now getting 2 more at once. He is almost always smiling now, especially if one of us is talking to him!

2. Those big brown eyes -- I wouldn't be looking at a Linam child if they didn't have big, dark eyes.

3. His long, long eyelashes. Grace Caroline has told me several times that she thinks we should cut them -- I think she's just jealous.

4. His chubby, chubby thighs! This kid is chubby! I'm hoping that he'll slim down when he learns to walk. If not, his Uncle Hamilton can teach him to play football.

5. His baby talk. Sam is one of the loudest babies I've ever heard. Even when he's happy he just yells all the time. I love the sound of his jabber when he's happy and when he talks himself to sleep.

6. The way he hides his head in my shoulder when a stranger talks to him -- I love that he knows I'm his Mama!

7. The way he just melts whenever we scold him for anything. Although annoying when he goes on about it, screaming for 10 minutes, it's incredibly funny at the beginning. Better get used to the word "no" dude, because you'll be hearing it more than any other for the next few years!!

8. How he claps for himself and bounces up and down whenever he does anything he's proud of.

9. The way he scoots on his bottom to get around. Still no crawling -- just the scoot!!

10. The way he gets himself from lying down to sitting up, which he just learned last week. He gets up on all 4 (hands and feet) like a bear, then sticks his knees under him, leans back, and plops on his bottom. Too funny!

11. How excited he gets when he pulls himself up to his knees or we help him stand. Still not doing it on his own, but he sure is close.

12. He loves table food and is a fantastic eater. Refuses any babyfood, and has for a while. Some of his favorite foods are FRUIT, hot dogs, pasta, rice. It's hysterical when he puts rice in his hair -- it looks like a little nest just sitting up there

Those are just a few of the many things we have learned and love about our sweet Samuel. He has truly blessed us far more than we have blessed him. Every day with him is an adventure. Unlike with the other two, who are so much like us (Grace Caroline like me and Drew like Matt), Sam is completely unknown. We don't have a clue how big he'll be, what he'll look like, or what his personality will be like. We're pretty sure he's smart, but whether he'll be good at math or english (or neither) is so much more unknown than with our biological children.

I can't wait to see what the next year brings!!! Lots of excitement in store.....

words!!!

Despite the fact that he didn't hear English until about 3 months ago at the age of 8 months, we are noticing that Sam is beginning to say some words! What a smart little guy we have.

Words to date:
Dada (his favorite person in the world)
Mama
Gaga (his sister, Grace Caroline)
Drew (his brother, and pronounced by Sam as "Druh")
All done (always accompanied by his version of the sign for this word)
Ball
Uh-oh

Pretty good, and pretty typical for an 11 month old, even one who wasn't adopted. Still no sign of crawling, though -- he just scoots everywhere, so he may never crawl!

First week back at work

I started back to work on Monday, the day after Easter and have successfully completed my first full week. I have to admit, I was ready to come back and have really enjoyed this week (with the exception of having a GI bug Tuesday and Wednesday). I love my job and am glad to be using my brain for helping children once again.
More importantly than me making it through the first week.....Sam has completed his first week in the bunny room at Children's for Children Daycare. We spent the good part of 3 days visiting the week before, so we suspected he wouldn't have a problem. He has done amazingly well. His teachers say that he is the most laid-back child in the room. Developmentally he's doing very well, they say. And he loves being around other kids his age!
The first day we dropped him off, he didn't cry at all. The second day, he knew we were leaving him so he fussed a little, but stopped as soon as his teacher started feeding him breakfast. He hasn't cried since! The first two nights were hard at home. Matt and I both commented that bedtime was like it was when we first got home -- he screamed for the better part of an hour both Monday and Tuesday before he finally gave it up and went to sleep. As long as we were in the room, he was okay, but the minute we got out of sight range the screaming started again. And when there are 2 other kids, you can't stay in the baby's room doing nothing until they fall asleep! So Monday and Tuesday we were in and out of his room and trying to get the other 2 ready for bed listening to Sam's ear-splitting screams. But it was only those 2 nights. Since then it's been back to normal happy Sammy, easy to bed.
I've been so proud of him in his adjustment!!

Sam's baptism/ Easter Sunday

We had Samuel baptized last Sunday, Easter Sunday. Sam got a GI bug the day before the whole family was due to arrive in Cincinnati, but we didn't realize he was sick until after my Mom, brother and his family had already started the drive (although I'm not sure they would have stayed home anyway). We did the best we could keeping everyone away from Sam until we thought he was better, but we all managed to get the bug anyway. So thanks to the Children's Museum of Cincinnati, Sam got his mom, dad, grandmother, uncle, aunt, and 2 cousins sick!!

Thankfully no one got sick until after the festivities were over. Saturday afternoon, we enjoyed the beautiful weather at the Cincinnati Reds game -- unfortunately they lost to the Pirates pretty bad. Saturday night we ate at Emanu, our favorite Ethiopian restaurant. They made a buffet special for our family, and we learned that the owner's son is named Samuel also!

Easter Sunday was the baptism. Sam was baptized along with his fellow adoptee JP! It was so special having our two families up there together dedicating our sons to the Lord. Drew decided he wanted to join the Wolfe family and stood with his friend "Zachy" the whole time (they were giving each other kisses during the prayer).

We enjoyed brunch, an Easter egg hunt, and Easter dinner later that day. I've included a few pictures. It was a great weekend!

Big News

Last week we took a trip to Little Rock.....and bought a house!! Our offer was accepted after 2 counters and we will close on pretty much our dream home June 2! Now we are praying that our house here sells by then.